The Palestinian Authority

News about The Palestinian Authority, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jun. 17, 2015

Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas reportedly tells party leaders that ineffective government he formed in 2014 after signing reconciliation pact with Hamas will resign within 24 hours; so-called consensus government is now headed by Prime Min Rami Hamdallah. MORE

May. 23, 2015

World Bank report finds Gaza's economy is near collapse due to 2014 war with Israel, border restrictions and dysfunctional government; cites conflict between Gaza's Hamas rulers and Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas as reason for delay in reconstruction efforts, and notes unemployment rate stands at 44 percent, world's highest level. MORE

May. 6, 2015

Palestinian Authority owes $430 million in electricity bills to Israel, and debt is at center of latest deterioration in relations with Israel; two sides cannot agree on how much energy is used, how bills should be calculated or how payments should be made. MORE

Apr. 19, 2015

Israel agrees to transfer some $470 million in tax revenue collected on behalf of Palestinians, resolving months-long dispute over issue; money was accrued since Israel suspended payments in response to Palestinian move to join the International Criminal Court. MORE

Apr. 7, 2015

Diplomatic conflicts between Israel and Palestinians endanger relative stability and peace West Bank has experienced in recent years; Palestinian Authority threatens to scale back its shared security responsibilities with Israeli military, but both sides appear to have interest in preventing outbreak of violence. MORE

Apr. 2, 2015

Palestinians join the International Criminal Court, making most significant and controversial step yet toward seeking statehood; Palestinian Authority hopes to use membership to increase international pressure on Israel and to hold it accountable for policies and actions that Palestinians charge are war crimes; stops short, however, of calling for immediate investigation of Israeli officials. MORE

Mar. 31, 2015

Mar. 28, 2015

Israeli Prime Min Benjamin Netanyahu, in attempt to ease tensions with Palestinians and United States, will release 90 days worth of tax revenues to Palestinian Authority; funds have collected since Israel began withholding them in response to Palestinian attempt to join International Criminal Court. MORE

Feb. 24, 2015

Manhattan jury finds Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Liberation Organization liable for their role in six terrorist attacks in Israel from 2002 to 2004 that killed and injured Americans; award of $218.5 million in damages is tripled under special terrorism law to $655.5 million, ending decade-long legal battle; Palestinian groups say they will appeal. MORE

Feb. 24, 2015

State-owned Israel Electric Corporation briefly reduces power to West Bank districts Nablus and Jenin in response to growing Palestinian debt, which is product of financial crisis caused by Israel's withholding of tax revenues after Palestinian Authority attempted to join International Criminal Court. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

Jan. 21, 2015

Palestinian Authority pays its employees 60 percent of their salaries for December by taking out loans to cover for shortfall created by Israel's withholding of $127 million in tax revenue. MORE

Jan. 15, 2015

Competing checkpoints run by Palestinian Authority and militant group Hamas at border of Gaza and Israel have come to represent fragmentation among Palestinians and breakdown of reconciliation pact established in 2014; pact, signed in April, was intended to establish consensus government, but divisions have remained. MORE

Jan. 13, 2015

Pres Obama, in telephone call to Israeli Prime Min Benjamin Netanyahu, confirms that United States will register opposition to Palestinian Authority's attempt to join International Criminal Court. MORE

Jan. 4, 2015

Israel withholds tax revenue from Palestinian Authority in response to Palestinian attempts to join International Criminal Court, further escalating tensions between two sides. MORE

Jan. 1, 2015

Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas requests that Authority join International Criminal Court, move that opens up possibility of war-crimes prosecutions of Israeli officials; request, condemned by American officials as excessive, follows failure of United Nations Security Council resolution demanding end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory by 2017. MORE

Jan. 1, 2015

Editorial criticizes Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas for political actions that may further dim any hopes of a two-state solution; contends Abbas's decisions to both force a losing vote on Palestinian statehood at United Nations Security Council and then to join International Criminal Court give Israeli hard-liners even more reason to reject new peace talks and could possibly push collapse of the authority itself. MORE

Dec. 16, 2014

News analysis; Sec of State John Kerry's visit to Rome and Paris highlights how United States is caught between European pressure to advance Middle East peace and Washington's traditional support for Israel; as European legislatures and Palestinian Authority draft resolutions calling for sovereignty, Kerry juggles meetings with Israeli Prime Min Benjamin Netanyahu, European foreign ministers and Palestinian negotiators. MORE

Dec. 11, 2014

Ziad Abu Ein, prominent Palestinian Authority official, dies after inhaling tear gas and being shoved and struck in chest by member of Israeli security forces during demonstration in West Bank village; episode threatens to grow into crisis between Israel and authority amid calls for halt in security coordination between two sides. MORE

Nov. 28, 2014

Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet says it has exposed an extensive Hamas military infrastructure in West Bank that was planning to carry out attacks on Israelis but offers no evidence; there is no immediate comment from Hamas leaders in Gaza or from officials in the Palestinian Authority, which dominates in the West Bank and, despite the formation of a unity government with Hamas, essentially remains its rival. MORE

Nov. 14, 2014

Secretary of State John Kerry is optimistic after meeting with leaders of Jordan, Israel and, separately, Pres Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, that strife over volatile holy site in Old City of Jerusalem can be eased; site is revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, and by Jews as Temple Mount. MORE

Oct. 10, 2014

Palestinian Prime Min Rami Hamdallah convenes first meeting of cabinet in Gaza in move meant to signal more involvement of West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in running enclave after seven years of control by Hamas; display of Palestinian unity is largely intended to inspire confidence ahead of an international donors’ conference for the reconstruction of Gaza. MORE

Sep. 26, 2014

Leaders of rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah say they have agreed to resolve their differences and allow the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza Strip so reconstruction can begin, but offer no specifics. MORE

Sep. 17, 2014

Temporary agreement is reached between Israel, Palestinian Authority and United Nations to allow Gaza to import materials for rebuilding. MORE

Sep. 12, 2014

Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas says that he has reached a deal with Israel and the United Nations to allow imports of reconstruction materials into the Gaza Strip, apparently bypassing Hamas to fulfill key tenet of cease-fire agreement that halted hostilities on Aug 26; Palestinian leaders estimate reconstruction costs at $7 billion and have planned an international donor conference for October. MORE

Sep. 8, 2014

Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas assails Hamas at meeting of Arab League, accusing it of running shadow government in Gaza; remarks call into question durability of unity pact between the two factions, and potentially complicate reconstruction of Gaza Strip. MORE

Sep. 3, 2014

Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, says Palestinian Pres Mahmoud Abbas has decided to shelve already moribund American-sponsored peace talks and join International Criminal Court; Abbas intends to seek Security Council resolution that would demand end to Israeli occupation within three years. MORE

Aug. 26, 2014

Pres Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority plans to present initiative that would bypass American-brokered negotiations with Israel to produce Palestinian state; it will give Israel a deadline to withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories. MORE

Aug. 13, 2014

News analysis; Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas is emerging as major player in Egyptian-mediated talks to end latest war in Gaza, becoming potential linchpin for Israel, Egypt and Hamas as they seek lasting arrangements Palestinian region. MORE

Aug. 6, 2014

Hamas, preparing for peace talks with Israel, announces that it will keep its military wing separate from any new coalition government, and allow it to prepare for future conflicts; move could undermine negotiations, which aim to disarm Hamas and form new unity government, and could lead to new clashes with Israel. MORE

Aug. 6, 2014

Thomas L Friedman Op-Ed column contends war in Gaza has revealed significant changes in what is becoming more and more a religious conflict; holds only hope for Israel in stabilizing Gaza Strip is by empowering the Palestinian Authority to take over border control in Gaza, and making territorial concessions in West Bank; warns unless Israeli and Palestinian moderates collaborate, zealots will take over the region. MORE

Jun. 27, 2014

Reconciliation deal intended to end bitter schism between Hamas and Fatah faction that dominates Palestinian Authority faces financial dilemma; Palestinian Prime Min Rami Hamdallah says he does not have enough money to pay both workers hired by Hamas and those employed by Palestinian Authority. MORE

Jun. 23, 2014

Abduction of three Israeli teenagers in West Bank has significantly escalated tensions between Israeli and Palestinian leadership, raising fears of third intifada in West Bank and Gaza Strip; kidnapping has prompted Israel to unleash most intense West Bank crackdown in nearly a decade, claiming lives of four Palestinians; Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas has incurred unprecedented wrath for aiding in Israel's search for teenagers. MORE

Jun. 19, 2014

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority denounces abduction of three Israeli teenagers and vows to help catch the kidnappers; pressure has mounted on him and has threatened to collapse his fraying reconciliation pact with the militant Islamic movement Hamas; Abbas makes it clear that the Palestinian Authority is assisting Israel in its search for the teenagers. MORE

Jun. 15, 2014

Search continues for three Israeli teenagers who went missing in the West Bank and are presumed to have been abducted by Palestinian militants; situation underscores the complexity of Israel's relations with the Palestinian Authority and the authority's deep differences with Hamas despite a recent reconciliation pact. MORE

Jun. 13, 2014

Palestinian Authority Prime Min Rami Hamdallah acknowledges that he still lacks authority in Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip, despite new government now in place; offers no plan for disarming militants, integrating security forces of both sides, or even getting Gaza's 1.7 million residents to start paying taxes and electricity bills. MORE

Jun. 7, 2014

Prayer summit meeting to be held by Pope Francis with presidents of Israel and the Palestinian Authority shows how Francis is trying to pursue his goals by positioning the Vatican as an independent, global diplomatic player. MORE

May. 28, 2014

Memo From Jerusalem; Pope Francis returns from successful three-day trip to the Holy Land having navigated one of the world's most complex political minefields with a deft touch; elicited promise from Israeli Pres Shimon Peres and Pres Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to jointly attend peace prayer service at the Vatican, a symbolic but important gesture following collapse of peace talks one month earlier. MORE

May. 26, 2014

Pope Francis invites Israeli Pres Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas to join him at his Vatican apartment for prayer and summit meeting, inserting himself directly into effort to bring about peace in Middle East; invitation, issued during visit to Jerusalem, underscores Francis' intention to reassert Vatican's role as arbiter of international diplomacy. MORE

May. 17, 2014

Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas meets in London with Tzipi Livni, Israel's justice minister; it is first known face-to-face talks between two sides since American-brokered peace negotiations collapsed in April. MORE

May. 13, 2014

Sec of State John Kerry plans to meet with Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas in London; it will be the first meeting between the two since Obama administration said in April that it was going to pause diplomatic efforts and reassess the Middle East peace process. MORE

May. 9, 2014

Group of 17 human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International urge Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas to join the International Criminal Court, move strongly opposed by Israel and the United States. MORE

Apr. 27, 2014

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issues formal statement calling the Holocaust 'the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era,' and expresses sympathy with victims' families; statement, which grew out of a meeting between Abbas and an American rabbi who promotes understanding between Muslims and Jews, is the first of such offering of condolences by Abbas. MORE

Apr. 23, 2014

Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas issues renewed warning that if American-sponsored Middle East peace talks fail, he may dissolve the authority and hand sole responsibility for the West Bank back to Israel; says Israel has, in any case, deprived him of any real power to govern the territory. MORE

Apr. 11, 2014

Israel, in response to Palestinian leadership's application to join 15 international conventions and treaties, will halt monthly transfer of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and use the money to offset Palestinian debts to Israeli utility companies. MORE

Apr. 4, 2014

Israel says it will not go through with already delayed release of Palestinian prisoners and is considering further sanctions; decision is response to Palestinian Authority's push to join 15 international conventions and treaties; talks spiral into an impasse as each side accuses the other of bad faith and places impediments in the way of resolution. MORE

First, Egypt opened its border crossing, suggesting a thaw in relations between the Egyptian government and Hamas, and then news emerged that Hamas had begun quiet negotiations with Israel to extend a truce.